The FastDay Forum

Hey ladies and gents,

I have tried many diets before and have always related the works 'diet' to suffering, eating little and not very satisfying food 24/7. Although I am really attempting to make this more of a life style choice, I would love too loose some weight before Christmas.

I did my first fast day on Monday and found it quite easy and strangely enjoyed it. Idid suffer with a head ache late afternoon and for some reason could not sleep?! I am on a feed day today and am struggling to get my head around how I am going to loose weight while I'm eating as I please? I was still conscious on what I ate today ( took a bite of a chocolate bar, felt bad and handed to a work college!). Did anyone else have the same doubts as me? What are people doing on feed days and will I see Results by Christmas? Would be interested to hear when people first started noticing a change.

Look forward to hearing from you guys! Please excuse all the question in one post, I'm new to this! X

Millymoomoo! Congrats on deciding to make the change to this way of life!

If you want inspiration...here's a photo of me on day one and then eight weeks later, having followed the 5:2 'diet' and eating healthily and happily the rest of the time! I also walk the dog 4 times a week...

GetAttachment-2.aspx.jpeg (11.64 KiB) Viewed 376 times

I am absolutely loving this way of life and have so far lost 1 1/2 stone, with another 2 to go. I hope you enjoy the 'diet' and this forum!

Best of luck xx

[carorees]

Welcome to the forum!

It's hard to say exactly how much weight you'll have lost by Xmas, but there's a good chance you could have lost a stone and gone down a dress size. But it depends on how much weight you have to lose...if you are only a little overweight then it might be only a few pounds gone.

Thank you for the advice ladies. Pinchypops you look fantastic after 8 week! Thank you for the amazing inspiration, you should be so proud of what you have achieved so far!

Hi millymoomoo and Welcome
Firstly relax Yes I know how that sounds coming from someone who's just got back in after having a night out at an Indian buffet with over a bottle of red wine ( to my self I must add ) !!! Basically that's the joy of this WOL you can eat on other 5 days anything you want to just not any amount of what you want My stats show what can be achieved and believe me I started with a BMI over 44 so I was used to eating very well indeed as you can Imagine.
Now however I'm eating even more just different food choices.
I'm doing 4:3 because I've so much to get rid of and believe me its so working for me, and I couldn't be happier/healthier

so Yes you can lose a stone in 4 weeks as I did on 4:3 but everyone loses differently so just go with the flow and see how it goes, because by Xmas IF you do this WOL by the book you will be weighing-in lighter.

Good Luck. Sue.

Hi Millymoomoo,
Welcome to 5:2.
I guess you have read the info which gives a guide that you'll lose around a pound a week.
I know when I started it was a bit scary on feed days, worrying about undoing the good work of fasting. Eating what you want but sensibly and healthily is how I see the 5 days now, and having the occasional blowout is not a problem.
The wonderful thing about 5:2 for me is that it is sustainable- 6 1/2 months on I'm still here and still losing.
I did get a headache the first time or so that I fasted but mostly not any more.
Good luck with it all.

Welcome Millymoomo. The guidance is about a pound a week and whilst its early days for me, I'm running just slightly behind this average but its still a loss. I started out monitoring calories on non fast days too but I have found now I'm in the swing of things I don't feel as hungry on non fast days. So if you start now, you will certainly be glad you did by the end of the year. Good luck! Please use the progress tracker, I personally get motivated by seeing how much other forum members have come!

There might be a conflict between being goal oriented and process oriented.

Personally, I have my doubts, like it seems you do, if there's much of a point in striving towards a specific goal like reaching a certain weight in a set amount of time, it's a tried and tested approach and does have some value, but perhaps it's not the best way for the long term.

"Having a goal" or thinking some certain state "would be nice" in itself doesn't make any difference, we all want good things to happen.

The only way you to some degree can affect your future situation are your actions here and now, how you plan and follow them through.

Being more process oriented would mean you detach from such goals, and instead for example make a plan for what you actually do when you feel tempted, like "when I feel a hunger pang, I take a short walk", "when I want that extra glass of wine, I take a glass of water first", "I do my exercise on fast days so I won't reward myself with food afterwards", "I don't buy these cookies "for surprise guests" so I won't get tempted".

Simple choices of action in everyday life, creating good habits which will have nice concequences, like being able to eat as you like at christmas time without feeling guilty about it.

And, I guess it's very realistic you lose the weight you want for christmas, lot's of people have done it.

I had serious doubts that this WOE would work for me, but amazingly it does. I wanted to lose the 10 kilos that has crept on since having kids. I've lost between 1/2 to 1 pound a week (with a couple of plateaus), but more importantly I am still doing 5:2 4 months later and still enthusiastic (never managed more than 4 weeks on any other "diet" before. I'm 5 kilos down and bought a pair of jeans in my daughter's favourite shop the other day that were reassuringly small. I'm quite happy if the next 5 kilos takes a while, as I'm happy doing this WOE permanently.

I thought I would over eat on feast days, but I usually don't (because 1 day of fasting doesn't set up any cravings??). In fact, I am often eating less on feed days than I used to, because my stomach has shrunk and my appetite has recalibrated. I also seem to have lost my sugar addiction, which has been the bane of my life for the last 30 years. Interestingly, these benefits seem to be contingent on managing 2 fast days a week. After about 4 normal days my sugar taste buds wake up and my portion sizes increase.

Good luck and I'm sure you'll find all the info you need on this forum. I've found it so helpful!